Second Chances
by MisdirectedPerson
Summary: With the l'Cie focus fulfilled, their life is at peace again. However, there's one who's not content with her life. How will she cope without that idiotic best friend of hers? Not connected to XIII-2. Pre-FLight/FangRai. Rated T for the possible bad language and situations.
1. Prologue- The end or the beginning?

A/N: After going on hiatus for almost… Hm, give or take 8 months? I finally managed to find the time to write again. I really do not know if my writing skills had improved or degraded significantly in those 8 months that I've been away. Anyway, that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to re-launch this fic. The very first fic that I wrote a long time ago. But due to the stress that I was going through during that time, I felt that it was very inappropriate to continue writing and I knew that I had to deal with my stress first. So yes, I deleted all of those stories that I had. I'm sorry for being away so long, my dear readers. I'm ready to take on writing again anyways. To avoid further ado, allow me to present the fic " Second Chances "!

* * *

_**Prologue- The end or the beginning?**_

The l'Cie had fulfilled their focus at last. And that is to defeat Barthandelus and to save Cocoon. Though it may seem that a lot of people are rejoicing over this fact, there was one who wasn't content with it.

And the most surprising fact was that it was the soldier herself who wasn't content with it. To the others that do not know that well, it may seem that she couldn't have cared less. But for the people whom she's close with like her fellow ex-l'Cie gang and her sister, Serah, they knew what the soldier was really going through at the moment.

Just the thought of losing her best friend after that exhausting battle made the soldier clench her fists tightly. _How much longer do I have to feel this way? That idiotic woman, we promised each other together til the end of everything. _

"Light?", a certain silver-haired teen knocked on Lightning's door, making her jump slightly of surprise.

"H-Hey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.", Hope said as he approached the pink-haired soldier cautiously. Her cerulean eyes were clouded with guilt and pain, the boy had noted as he moved to sit near her.

"No, no it's alright. You just caught me off-guard, that's all.", Lightning replied as she ruffled Hope's her affectionately. He smiled at this slightly and gazed out at the window. The night held some sort of calming effect on the two as they continued to gaze out of the window.

"Tomorrow… It'll be a year since we saved Cocoon.", Hope stated cautiously as he observed the soldier's guarded look. He noticed that the soldier flinched slightly when he said the last part. The boy knew that deep down, Lightning was hurting because Fang and Vanille hadn't woken up yet from their crystal slumber. For a year already.

"I know, Hope. Is this the reason why you came up in my bedroom tonight?", Lightning asked softly as she rubbed at her temples. Slowly, she began to remember what exactly happened on that day. _Damn it. I… I don't want to remember everything._

"Yeah…. I'm sorry for mentioning it to you, Light. I- no, we know that you're hurting deep down.", Hope mumbled as he wringed his wrists nervously. Seeing the soldier's face crumble from being carefully guarded into showing pure plain agony and sadness, the boy felt helpless for being unable to help his mentor with her current situation. He wanted to say comforting words to her just so she can spark up a new hope in her life. However, he was at lost at words and so, he only did the thing that he could do right now.

Hope wrapped his arms around his mentor while apologizing.

As that happened, Lightning slowly began to relax and allow herself to put her guard down. She hugged the boy back while reassuring him that it was alright. When the boy had let go after some time, he bid the pink-haired woman good night before leaving her bedroom. Shutting the door close behind her, she went to her bed and went inside her covers. When she made sure that everyone else was asleep and no one was ever going to hear her cry, she did. And while the soldier did, she repeated this line all over in her head until she felt calm enough to sleep.

_I don't know if there's anyone out there who'll listen to me but please… Let Fang and Vanille go home, especially the idiot._

* * *

A few miles away from the soldier's house, a giant crystal pillar shone in the darkness. _We heard ya, sunshine. Just hold on for a little longer. Soon, we'll be there._

* * *

Ext. A/N: And here we go. This is simply the prologue, guys. I apologize for the short chapter. But I promise to improve on the length soon. Any comments, corrections to be made or clarifications, let me know. Thanks again!

Farron, over and out.


	2. Chapter 1- When everything gets worse

A/N: Sorry for the late update. You guys do know that I'm not good with fast updates… So yeah. Onto Chapter one now~

_**Chapter 1- When everything gets worse**_

* * *

_**Beep. Beep. Beep.**_

Lightning's alarm went off as the first few rays of sunlight shined through her window.

"Claire! You up already, sis?", Serah said, knocking on the soldier's door.

" Yeah, I am. ", the soldier responded as she got up from her bed. _One year, huh? _

"Okay. Just informing you, breakfast's ready sis.", the pink-haired girl responded as she descended down from the hallway to call the others for breakfast. _Maker, please make this day an easy one for my sister. We do not know anymore how to keep her in line with us. Please. _Serah silently prayed as she made her way to Hope's room.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Lightning made her way to the kitchen, her military comm. device went off. _What the hell? I thought that I'd be off-duty today due to the anniversary. _

"Farron here. Speaking?", Lightning inquired as she brought the device near her ear. A gruff chuckle could be heard from the background.

"At ease, Lieutenant. Captain Amodar here. You're on your way to the crystal pillar today, right? That's why you took a day off?", Amodar's voice rang as the soldier poured herself a cup of coffee.

" Yes sir, that is correct. Um… May I ask why you're calling early in the morning?", Lightning responded as she saw Hope, Snow and Serah coming around the corner. She made a gesture to the three to keep their voices down. Fortunately for her, they listened and sat down.

As the soldier's conversation continued with her superior via phone, the three dug in with their breakfast, casually talking to each other until they heard a sudden pause from the soldier.

"A-Are you sure, sir? This isn't a joke, right?", Lightning stammered as she choked on her coffee a bit.

"I wouldn't kid around, Farron. There are a lot of monsters lurking around in the area near the crystal pillar. That light emitting from the pillar itself drew them near. I have a research team stationed there right now for the crack in the pillar. We are under-manned right now. I'm sorry to call off your duty for today. But still, I'd suggest that you still bring everyone for just in case.", Amodar briefed Lightning as she began to eat albeit slowly. Once she swallowed, she muttered out a reply saying that she got it.

"Ah, Farron. Before I forget, please ask Snow to bring NORA along, if you don't mind. ", her superior said before hanging up.

"Light, what was that about?", Hope asked as she finished eating her breakfast. Meeting everyone else's eyes, she responded.

"We're on duty for the crystal pillar. I'll explain the details on the way but for now, please hurry up and get dressed. Bring a couple of weapons and ammunitions too. And Snow, tell your team to do the same thing."

Standing up, she got her emptied plate and mug and proceeded to wash them. After that, she left her dishes to dry up on a towel. Before she got into a quick shower, she called Sazh up and informed him about the situation. Once through, she got dressed in her usual GC uniform. Nothing much changed about her uniform except that she had two shoulder pads strapped on instead of one due to the fact that she recently got promoted as 2nd Lieutenant in the Guardian Corps.

* * *

"Claire. What's happening?", Serah asked as she brought a case filled with ammunition from the basement.

"Serah. Last night, a crack occurred in the crystal pillar and a light emitted from that crack. Around 3 am today, Cpt. Amodar sent in a research team check on it. However, the light must have attracted the monsters and they're now under attack. Since there's no squad that's on standby, he had to call me in for duty.", Lightning summarized as she pushed a few buttons on the wall. The wall activated and it showed an arsenal of her Gunblades. Deciding that the threat was serious, she got the Omega Gunblade out of its case and loaded it with ammunition. She then got two more packs filled with ammunition as back-up for just in case.

"So that's why… Do you trust me enough to let me handle my own this time?", Serah asked as she watched her sister holster her gunblade in.

"As much as I don't want you to get hurt because of fighting, maybe I'll let this pass for now. Here, use this.", Lightning muttered as she sighed, passing a crossbow to Serah. She had prepared her sister to fight as she felt that she might not be there to defend her always.

Serah stared in awe as she held the crossbow on. This crossbow wasn't just like any ordinary one. Because this crossbow had a special modification, courtesy of Lightning. It had a sword-mode like the Gunblade itself.

"Oh yeah, make Snow your shield so that you really won't get any damage.", the soldier jokingly added as she brought the case of ammunition along with her.

"Claire!", Serah protested as she whacked her sister lightly on the head. The soldier could only laugh at her baby sister's antics.

* * *

"Snow. Is your team ready?", Lightning asked as she greeted the blond outside of their shared house.

"Yeah, they are.", The blond replied as he saw Hope approaching them.

"Are we ready to go, guys?", the silver-haired teen asked before noticing a velocycle approaching them.

"Hey! You ain't forgetting about the old man now, right?", Sazh protested as he parked near Lightning's velocycle.

"Whoops, guess that I forgot for a moment.", Lightning muttered as she slapped her hand against her forehead. _You got way too eager, Lightning. Control yourself._

Seeing the soldier do that, the afro-haired man could only chuckle in response.

"No harm done, eh? Now let's get this show on the road!", Sazh said, getting inside his velocycle. Serah and Snow chuckled while Hope and Lightning could only smile in reminiscence of their days as a l'Cie.

"Right." With that, the five of them departed for their mission.

* * *

A/N: Heh, sorry for the parts that got a subdued meaning. But I assure you, that whatever you guys are implying from the conversation that Amodar had with sensei (lol, I call Lightning that XD), you probably guessed it correctly.

Farron, over and out.


	3. Chapter 2- A path or a dead end?

A/N: RoxyRoxas1313, thank you for the review and the suggestion of throwing a little twist for this chapter. I was wondering what was missing for this chapter when your review came in so yeah, I decided to re-write chapter 3 and add more mayhem to this chapter. Let's go, everyone!

_**Chapter 2- A path or a dead end?**_

* * *

"Lieutenant Farron! Wake up!", a shrill voice pierced through the soldier's hazy mind as she gained consciousness from the attack of the Behemoth… _I'm numb everywhere… Fuck, I broke some of my ribs And the poison's gradually spreading around too. _

"Nnngh… Corporal Jamison…", Lightning mumbled as she struggled to stay awake. Immediately, the soldier caught Lightning from collapsing as she tried to stay awake.

"Lieutenant. Y-You're poisoned! We have to retreat-"

"Not now! We're way too close to getting Fang and Vanille- GAH!", the pink-haired woman screamed in pain as her ribs continued to protest in pain. _Why now of all times…? I'm so close to getting her… Back…_ Lightning thought as she drifted back into unconsciousness.

* * *

(Flashback Part One Start)

"We're here.", Snow announced as his velocycle pulled to a rolling stop right in front of the entrance of the base. Immediately, the other ex l'Cie got off from the vehicle and proceeded to bring the artillery and ammunition inside the base while Lightning proceeded to Amodar's area. She knocked on the door before proceeding inside. Once in, she gave a curt nod and a salute to the Captain.

"At ease, Lieutenant Farron.", Captain Amodar said as he turned around to face Lightning. Lightning dropped her salute and stood straightly while waiting for Amodar to start explaining. _He said that there was more to this… I hope that it isn't bad news…_

"Look, Farron. I know that I said over the phone was that there were monsters lurking around in this area. What I said there wasn't enough however. I had to disguise the information until further notice because we couldn't determine yet the real fact.", Amodar confessed as he looked at his protégée. Lightning couldn't help but narrow her eyes a bit as she processed the information in her head.

"Then what is this about, Captain? Why did you summon me?", the soldier tried to keep herself from glaring at her superior._ I made my hopes go up again… _

"Five minutes ago before you arrived, I got the final report from the team that is scouting the area. It is confirmed that the two of your friends have awoken from slumber already.", Amodar stated as he began to type up something from his datapad. Lightning showed no emotion on her face. But deep down, she was actually bursting with a lot of them, relief and happiness evident among them.

"However, the remnants of PSICOM have gotten ahead of us and thus, we got into a huge mess. Farron, I want you to watch this video.", with that, Amodar gave the datapad to the soldier before he went back to the observatory window to monitor the status of the crystal pillar. The video showed Lightning a lot of unimaginable things. PSICOM had a number of biologically engineered animals made for battle stationed around the area. Then, a group of soldiers from PSICOM breaking the crystal pillar before finally dragging some sort of machine inside the crack, explaining the brightness of the light emitting from the crystal pillar. Soon enough, the knocked out forms of Fang and Vanille were revealed as they were extracted before heading out of site. The video ended there with Lightning attempting not to break the datapad as she stiffly returned the device back to her superior.

"Sir. Where are they?", the soldier inquired in a low voice in order to keep herself in check.

"Fifty kilometers southwest from here, that's where their camp is settled. Farron, I understand why they're so important to you, and that's the reason why I chose you for this particular mission- Yes, what is it?", Amodar cut himself off as he received a call from his transmitter.

"What!? You've got to be kidding me! Damn it. Send in Private Bates ahead, Sergeant Collins! Lieutenant Farron and NORA shall follow after him in fifteen minutes!", the captain ordered as he quickly ended his call.

"Farron. The commander of the remnants of PSICOM is none other than Jihl Nabaat.", Amodar coldly stated as he led her out of the office and into the armory. The lieutenant could only stare at him in shock as she processed this information. _What!? I thought she died back there when-_

"Farron! We have no time anymore!", Amodar barked at her as he noticed the red lights of the base blaring off while signaling at the same time that an intruder had entered. _Snap out of it, Lightning. Focus! _

"Yes, sir!", Lightning said as she immediately snapped out of her shocked state and began to brief Snow and the others by typing in the mission details in the datapad before sending it to the briefing room where the ex l'cie and NORA awaited for further instruction. Once through, she dashed entered the briefing room and explained the situation to them in a clipped tone before proceeding out to board the Guardian Corps issued hover tank along with Sazh, Serah and the other soldiers while Snow and Hope boarded the other hover tank with the NORA team in. Sealing the doors shut, the hover tanks flew over to the base camp of PSICOM.

(End Of Flashback Part one)

* * *

(Flashback Part Two Start)

Fifteen minutes later, the vehicles arrived the outskirts of the base camp, where the scouting team had been waiting for them.

"Sergeant Collins, Private Bates, any updates on the situation right now?", Lightning inquired as she saluted the two soldiers who saluted back at her.

"Yes, Lieutenant Farron. My squad split into two in order to infiltrate the area. However, a casualty occurred when one of my men decided to enter the area. It-It immediately disintegrated him when he tried to pass through.", Sergeant Collins shuddered as he remembered what happened. Lightning sighed as she realized that she wouldn't be able to analyze this by herself.

"Maqui, Yuj. I need your help for this one.", Lightning called as she motioned for the two to come at her side.

"Yes, Light?", Yuj addressed the soldier as they approached her.

"Listen, I need you guys to determine what kind of shield they implemented on this area. One of our men immediately disintegrated as he stepped through the area.", Lightning muttered as she counted the number of soldiers left for this mission. _10 soldiers plus me, Serah, Snow, Hope, Sazh and NORA equals to 19 people all in all for this mission. We are going to be outnumbered if we go in together… I have to split them up evenly…. _

"Sure, Light. We'll be quick!", the two immediately left for work as she continued to analyze how to split the team up evenly based on strengths and weaknesses for a good teamwork and avoidance of casualties. Eventually, she managed to do so.

"Everyone, listen up! I'm splitting ourselves into three. Sazh, Gadot and you three over there, I'm leading you guys. Snow, you'll lead Lebreau, Serah, Private Bates and those three soldiers beside you. Sergeant Collins, I'm leaving Hope, Yuj and Maqui under your care with the rest of the soldiers.", Lightning strategized as she got a map from her datalog. Marking the areas carefully, she added further notes about the base camp's structure before summing everything up. Once through, she saw Maqui and Yuj approaching her with satisfied smirks on their faces.

"It was way too easy, Light. It's just some E.T. Force field that's super-outdated from our current version.", Maqui said as he placed his box on the ground. Yuj did the same and turned to Lightning to ask her about the latest plan. Once through, they all headed out.

All was going smoothly according to plan until one on the soldiers that Lightning was handling got a bit cocky and arrogant and decided to challenge this Megistotherian along with its pack of Silver Lobos. The soldier was immediately silenced with its poisonous breath and Lightning was forced to draw her blade out.

"Shit, Gadot! Corporal Jamison! Distract the Megistotherian while I deal with the Silver Lobos! Sazh! I need back-up!", Lightning hissed as she fired some rounds off at the Silver Lobos. Immediately, Sazh sent hastega, veil, protect and bravery spells at her after buffing himself up.

"On it, soldier!", Sazh grunted as he sent the same spells to Gadot and Corporal Jamison. Thank the maker that they still had their l'Cie powers retained albeit losing the ability to summon eidolons at the same time.

As Lightning continued to finish off one of the Silver Lobos, another Lobo leapt at her. Flicking a button on her gunblade, she switched it to its gun mode and did one of her signature flip while shooting at the same time to avoid the attack. As she neared the ground, she flicked her gunblade back to its sword mode and proceeded to stab the other Lobo at the last moment. Getting her blade off the carcass of the Silver Lobo, she rushed forward to aid Gadot and Corporal Jamison by casting a Fira spell at the Megistotherian twice. It was followed up by Sazh's flamestrike and the beast was finished off at last.

"Haa… Haa… Haa… Damn it, another casualty…", Lightning panted as she sheathed her gunblade back in. Suddenly, she dropped on the ground while feeling numb at the same time. _What the hell… Shit, how careless had I been? I got poisoned._ She tried to cast esuna on herself with little success as her senses were starting to numb.

"Lightning!", Gadot tried to help her up when suddenly, a roar was heard behind him. Immediately, Lightning stood up and shoved Gadot out of the way and took the blow of the Behemoth as it came.

(End Of Flashback Part Two)

* * *

Waking up in a dark area, Lightning tried to search for someone in the dark.

"Hello?", the soldier called out as she tried to reach out for something.

"Sticky situation, eh Sunshine?", a familiar voice rang out, causing the soldier to trip in the dark.

* * *

Ext. A/N: Sorry for the cliffy, guys XD the last part, you're asking me? They didn't meet up yet. All details to be explained in the next chapter. Hahahahaha, okay thanks again!

Farron, over and out.


End file.
